


Fight for your Life

by captainwingdings (Greggles_Lestrade)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Blood, Crossover, For Billy and Steve at least, Immortality, M/M, Mentions of Death, Pre-Relationship, Temporary Character Death, The Old Guard AU that no one asked for, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:28:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25872130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greggles_Lestrade/pseuds/captainwingdings
Summary: A roar. The crack of a bat. A side full of pain. Darkness.There was a new immortal.
Relationships: Alexei/Murray Bauman, Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 10
Kudos: 72





	1. Chapter 1

_ A roar. The crack of a bat. A side full of pain. Darkness.  _

Billy jolted awake. Brown fluffy hair. A flash of Adidas sneakers. And those eyes...sad brown eyes. There was so much hiding in those eyes. 

“How did you find me this time?” Billy asked, not even turning his head to watch the redhead walk up beside him. They were looking out over the Mediterranean, in a little villa on the coast of Greece. The lights on the boats made the dark sea look like the night sky, as if they were looking into forever. Forever was a long time, both of them knew that. 

“Out of all the safe houses, this one is your favorite.” The red head smiled, standing next to him on the balcony. “You like the view,” she said, turning to glance at him. “Mostly during the day when everyone’s on the beach...”

Billy turned to finally look at her, smoke blowing out his nostrils from the recent drag of his cigarette. “Max.”

Max beamed up at him and stepped into a tight hug. “I missed you, you ass,” she muttered against his jacket, it was chilly on the coast. 

“You didn’t miss me that much.” Billy held her tight regardless. “I don’t believe it.” He had only been away for less than a year. For them, that time was nothing. 

“I did. You know how Hop gets.” Max pulled back just in time to see Billy make a face. He definitely knew. He flicked his cigarette over the side, watching the light from the tip get fainter as it fell. “Those will kill you, you know?”

“Haven’t killed me yet.” Billy shrugged and put his hands in his pockets to ward off the chill from the sea. “You’ve been having the dreams too,” he guessed, even though he knew he was right. He knew they were all having them.

She nodded. “We narrowed it down to a small town in Indiana.” They started walking inside, letting the villa doors close behind them. “Hawkins.”

“Hawkins, Indiana. Sounds quaint.” Sounded boring to Billy. They all had these dreams, whenever there was a new one. It didn’t happen often, but the dreams didn’t stop until they were found. Like they all belonged together. They all had their ideas as to why this happened but no one really knew for sure. Just like they didn’t know why they were cursed with this existence. The universe was a strange place.

“El thinks that he’s in trouble though. She’s seen some more things, some...darkness that’s there.” Max continued as they both sat at a heavy oak table, “We need to go sooner rather than later.” Of course as technology progressed, it was getting harder and harder to be a new one and not be taken in by some government facility of some sort for testing, if the group didn’t get to them first. They were a curiosity, and the governments of the world were very curious. 

“And why couldn’t you have gone without me?” Billy asked, leaning back in his seat. “It would be easier than coming all the way here.” Faster too. 

“It was my idea,” Max told him. “The others went to scout ahead but we all thought it was a good idea for you to come…” Billy let out a hard sigh and stood up to pace. “We’ve all been just sitting on our asses without you.” She tracked his movement across the floor. “Sure we’ve taken the odd job here in there but...Billy…” He didn’t stop to look at her, chewing on his thumbnail, listening. 

“It’s more than just the government,” Max said finally. “The darkness that El sees...it’s a creature of some sort. It’s a danger to everyone, we have to stop it...or figure out where it came from or something!” She stood up, animated. “You know we need you there.” 

He finally stopped to look at her. “You got a plane outta here?” She grinned at him. 

Billy preferred traveling by boat, but if you needed to get to a place fast then planes were ideal. There was just something about being thousands of feet in the air that made Billy uneasy, and even though he’d been in countless flying machines, it never really got easier. 

“Anything new happen while I was gone?” Billy asked as he made himself comfortable on the cold metal floor of the plane they chartered. It wasn’t the best seat in the house, but considering they were flying with livestock, it could have been worse. 

“I beat Alexei’s record on Dig Dug.” Max shrugged, laying her head on his folded up jacket. Billy rolled his eyes at that. “What? You know what he says,” she then put on a bad Russian accent, “hand eye coordination.” They couldn’t help but laugh because that was totally something Alexei would say. 

“I’ve been gone eight months and that’s all you’ve done?” Billy asked, raising his eyebrow. 

“We had a job or two. Small ones.” Max shrugged. “Well...actually Hop did them mostly. You know how he is…” She shook her head. She had El were just as capable of fighting as Hop was, maybe more so because no one expected it. “I don’t know why he’s so protective of us.”

“You know exactly why,” Billy told her, just like he told her hundreds of times. 

“I know, it’s just frustrating.” Max sighed. “It’s not our fault that we look younger....” Another thing that was unknown, why some people were stuck at a younger age than others. Murray had the idea that it was when they first died, their clocks stopped, but that was just a theory. That’s all they had, theories. 

“Still stupid,” Max muttered, turning to try and sleep. It was stupid, but it wasn’t like the others didn’t act the same too, Billy included. It was hard to treat someone like an adult when they still looked 14.

Billy was still awake when Max woke with a gasp. Another dream. That was another reason why they had to find the newbie, none of them would get a good night’s sleep until then. It was the reason why he didn’t even try to sleep. “What’d you see?” He asked. 

“Big house. Lake...lake something.” Max shook her head. “No, Loch? I think it was Loch.” She sighed and pushed her hair back from her forehead. 

Billy made a face. The only  _ loch _ he knew was Loch Ness and that definitely wasn’t in Indiana. “Well, we’re almost to Indianapolis now, so no point in going back to sleep.” He grabbed his duffle bag beside him. 

Max sat up and started to gather her things, giving Billy’s jacket back to him. “You didn’t sleep at all, did you?” She knew he didn’t.

“No, why would I? I don’t want to have another one of those dreams.” He hated them, luckily they didn’t happen all too often, but when they did Billy remembered how much he hated them. It was always a punch to the gut when it happened too, no warning. 

“I guess,” Max made a face. “The others’ll tell you what they saw too, maybe we can pinpoint where this guy’s at.”

“Hawkins, Indiana in a big house by a loch. Seems narrow enough.” Billy shrugged as the plane started to descend. “You don’t think we can find him with that?”

“We don’t know what’s happened since then. If someone found him before us,” Max said softly. “You know how small towns are, word gets around and then you’re fucked.”

She was right, of course, but he wasn’t going to admit it. “We’ll see what happens,” was all Billy said as they touched down at the small airport. They just needed to grab a car and then find their way to Hawkins. 

The rest of the group was holed up in a tiny motel room when Billy and Max joined them. Of course they would surely have their own rooms, at least Murray and Alexei would. El automatically came over to hug them both, Billy’s hug lasting a little longer than Max’s. “Missed you,” she muttered against his shoulder. Billy gave her a loose, one armed hug back. He was never really one for contact that wasn’t violent, preferring to carve out his own space and keep people at a distance. Of course a few wormed their way through, Max, El, sometimes he’d let Alexei lean on him. 

He nodded at the other three, Murray and Hop were lazily playing cards while Alexei was reading some thick book, laying on his stomach on one of the two twin beds. “How goes it?” Hop asked as he tossed a card onto the stack. Whatever game they were playing, it didn’t seem to have any set rules. 

“Not bad.” Billy shrugged off his bag and walked further into the room, sitting on the edge of the empty twin bed. “What did we find out from the scout?”

“Not much,” Murray responded, not looking over at him. “Kid lives in a place in  _ Loch Nora _ , rich type, which makes our lives a little harder.”

“Or easier,” Billy countered. “Never met a rich kid who didn’t want to run away. We could go for that angle.”

“He has friends,” Alexei piped up in his Russian accent, casually flicking over a page in his book. “They will miss him.”

“Not our problem.” They all had friends, once upon a time, families. 

“There’s something else,” Max said, nudging El. 

El looked at Max and nodded. “There’s something here. Something...not normal.” She was always good about sensing those sorts of things, things that remained a mystery to the other’s but were clear as day to her.

“It’s how he died,” Hop continued, taking a drink from a bottle of beer nearby. “It wasn’t a bear, it was-”

“Black, head open like petals of flower...with teeth, lots of teeth.” Alexei nodded, closing his book and sitting up. “Is creature.”

Billy looked at all of them, trying to read their faces. Was this a joke? They’ve done better. “A monster?” He said finally, having let them have the time to come clean from their little game, but no one spoke up. It wasn’t a joke. “Any clues as to what the fucker is?”

“No. But I think the kid knows about it.” Murray told him. “We think he was geared up to fight it.” Billy nodded, it seemed that way in his dream as well. “You and El are going to go out to talk to him tomorrow.” He flipped another card onto the pile.

Billy gave him an amused look. “Oh and you’ve already decided this?” The group dynamic was a strange one and it got stranger the more people they acquired, but they were all looking for a family in one way or another when they joined. Maybe that was why they all stayed.

“You’re the closest looking in age.” Hop told him, “We’ll be nearby in the van monitoring things.”

“Listening in.” El nodded. 

Billy looked over at Max. “And why aren’t you coming with me and El?” Max and El were close in age to one another, well physical age that was. It was good though, Max needed another girl to confide in, and the guys definitely weren’t the ones to be that for her.

“I’m the backup.” She rolled her eyes like that was obvious, flicking her red hair over her shoulder. “If we see things aren’t going our way then I’ll come to help.” She was good at convincing people of things, twisting their words to satisfy her needs. She had spunk.

“Seems like...” Billy glanced around at all of them. “You guys already have a plan in place. You just need me as bait.”

“We also want you here...to greet him,” El said softly. “And we missed you.” He knew the guys would never admit to that, but El rarely lied. Billy looked over at her and gave her a small smile. He kinda missed them too, not that he’d admit it either. 

Billy glanced around at the guys, who were trying to hide their expressions. Alexei spoke up, “We miss a little.” He shrugged and Billy grinned. Yeah they missed him.

It seemed like the girls were sharing a room while the guys piled into the one next door. Billy would have to sleep on the bed with Hop but he’d done it before. Alexei and Murray always shared a bed. Although Billy thought it would be a lot safer if they all roomed together, he’d slept on worse places than the floor, the other’s thought that the girls needed their privacy. Billy didn’t argue, the girls could handle themselves in a fight, and if they couldn’t Max could let out a shrill scream if she needed to. 

Billy settled in a chair in the corner while the others started to get ready for bed. “You should get some sleep.” Murray mentioned to him, as he made his way from the bathroom. 

“Why? Expecting some action?” Billy asked, raising an eyebrow. “I can sleep when we get the newbie.” He hated having those dreams and this time...it felt like there was something more too it, something new and strange and Billy didn’t care for that at all. “I still don’t know why we’re waiting.” He glanced at the three of them, as if they would show their answers on their faces. 

It had been two days, going into a third day since the kid first...well, died. Billy thought they should get to him sooner rather than later, but the others didn’t seem worried or rushed at all. Maybe his time away had done some damage on the team whether he wanted to think so or not. 

Hop laid down on the small mattress. “Why the big rush? It isn’t like he’s gonna die before we get to him.” Billy made a split second face at that. There were worse things than death, and they all knew it first hand. He looked away. 

When he was gone, Hop was the unspoken leader, they all just automatically deferred to him. Billy hated it,  _ he _ had to work to gain confidence in his leadership, but for Hop it was just...taken for granted. It wasn’t that Billy didn’t value Hopper’s opinion and experience, it was just...Billy was the first, the one to hold them all together, to find and start the group, it didn’t matter that he looked like a  _ teenager _ . He led sieges, large armies into battle, to victory, he wasn’t going to sit around and let things be decided for him. Especially when there was a hostile, unknown creature around tearing people apart. It was kinda important to deal with that sooner rather than later. 

Hopper let out a huff and turned on the bed, crossing his arms and muttering a ‘night’. Alexei and Murray settled into each other’s arms, like they always did. Later on, they would still be in the same position when Billy snuck out. 

He started the car, it was just a night drive to clear his head, scout the area personally, he told himself. He knew he was lying to himself. He hated sitting and waiting and it would look more legitimate if the guy disappeared at night. Billy would even help him craft a note. 

The houses grew bigger as Billy got closer to Loch Nora. How was he going to figure out which house was the one from his dreams in the dark? Large house, double doors. Immortality didn’t give him night vision or any other super power, sadly. Laser vision would be cool. 

He stopped at a house that had on its lights. Lights on at one o’clock in the morning, that was normal. There was a fancy BMW parked in the driveway, indicating that someone didn’t just go away on a trip and left their lights on to prevent theft or something to that effect. He pulled in behind the car and got out, looking up at the house. It looked familiar, but there was only one way to find out if he was right. Billy put on his charming face and knocked on the door. Soon he could hear scuffling behind the twin doors, and the feeling of hesitation before it opened a crack. 

Those eyes….yeah this was the place. Billy knew that he was staring when the guy--Hop and the rest were right when they told him that he was around Billy’s age--spoke up. “Can I...help you?” 

Billy snapped out of it. “Have you  _ died _ recently?” He asked with a smile, not one for subtlety. The brunette’s eyes widened and the door shut hard in Billy’s face. Billy chuckled and stepped back, looking up at the windows. Which one would be the guy’s room…

The guy was probably watching him from behind the curtains somewhere, maybe he’d have to trail around to the back of the house. Hopefully there was a trellis he could climb up like something out of Romeo and Juliet, but if not, he could improvise. 

Billy casually wandered around to the back of the house. A pool, nice. Maybe they all could ditch the motel and stay here until whatever the fuck creature was dead. It had been too long since Billy relaxed in a pool. He went over and tried the back door, locked. Of course it was, this shit was never easy. 

With a rather nice display of acrobatics, unfortunately no one was there to see it, Billy got onto the porch roof. He eenie-meenie-miney-mo’d the windows and got lucky, pulling himself into the room ungracefully, flopping onto the floor. 

When he looked up, the newbie was standing over him with a fire poker, ready to strike. “Who the fuck are you?” The kid asked, his grip tight around the poker. 

“The name’s Billy, I’m your fairy godmother.” Billy grinned up at him but the kid scowled back. Who knew that breaking into someone’s house would make them salty? “What should I call you, pretty boy?”

“I’m asking the questions here,” the teen growled back, tightening his grip on the fireplace poker. 

“Then _ask_.” They both looked at each other for a second before Billy sighed and started to sit up.  
  
“Stay there!” The newbie took a step back, watching Billy with wide, scared eyes. Something more dangerous than someone who knew how to use a weapon was someone who _didn’t_ know how to use one.

“Relax.” Billy turned around slowly on his butt so he could face the other. He lifted his hands up to show that he was no threat, not to him anyway. “Just getting comfortable.” He looked at the other, really looked at him for the first time. He was...really attractive, pouty lips, sad, dark eyes, big floppy hair, pale skin dotted with moles. (Billy didn’t think that he had a thing for moles but even after he’s been alive for so long, he still managed to find out something new about himself.) Although, it did look like he hadn’t slept in a few days, which was understandable, Billy hadn’t either. He wondered if he dreamt about Billy...

“What’s your name?” He asked once his gaze settled back up on the other’s face. 

“Who sent you? The lab?” 

“What? No one sent me. What lab?” Billy shook his head. “Is there a lab after you? Great, this is why we shouldn’t have waited.” He sighed, closing his eyes for a second. “Look, I need to know if you’re the right kid-”

“Kid? I’m eighteen!” He looked at Billy, obviously feeling that he was older than him. 

“Right, practically an adult,” Billy said sarcastically. “I still stand by my first question though, but if there’s a lab after you then you probably experienced something...strange in the last few days.” The kid looked away for a second, so Billy was right, he knew he couldn’t mistake those eyes. “What happened?” He asked softly. The time for jokes and sarcasm were over. The first time...the first time was always the worst.

The teen didn’t speak for a moment, maybe gathering his thoughts. “We were trapped...I had to save them. It was either me or all of us, and that wasn’t an option.”

“So you stayed back to fight.” It seemed to be a common theme with members of the group. Reckless bravery. They might talk big but when it came down to it, they knew what they had to do. Of course it was a lot easier when you knew you couldn’t die.

The teen nodded slowly, he had a far away look in his eyes, like he was remembering it all go down. When it was clear that he wasn’t going to continue, Billy helped. “You got a hit in...but you got hit yourself,” he guessed. The dreams only supplied flashes of what happened but, usually between all of the group they could piece together what happened. 

“There was so much blood...” The newbie shook his head, fight gone out of him as he slowly put down the fire poker, holding it loosely in his hand. “My whole side was on fire and there was no one... _ no one _ ...” Tears glimmered in his eyes. “Things started to fade and then...then I woke up, I don’t know how I’m still alive but...” He lifted his shirt to show that there wasn’t a scratch on him.

“And what happened to the thing?” Billy asked him, keeping his voice soft. They could deal with the aftermath of his first death later. If that thing was still out there, a lot of people were in danger, people who couldn’t come back. “Did you kill it?”

The kid shook his head. “It ran… I think-I think I broke its leg.” He looked back at Billy. “I  _ died _ .”

“Yep. You did.” Billy pushed himself up. “Sounded like it was a good one too.” The teen looked at him like he was insane. “Look, it’s gonna happen again. Eventually it’ll just be an inconvenience. That’s just who you are now, kid.”

“Steve. It’s Steve,” the teen said forcefully. “And you’re saying this is gonna happen again?”

“I mean, chances are good.” Billy shrugged, looking over at a desk with a few little league trophies. We got a hitter then. 

“But...I don’t wanna die again.” Steve looked distraught at the idea. 

“We never do, but it happens,” Billy told him. “For what it’s worth, we can get back up again and continue fighting.”

Steve looked at him, almost studying him. “Who’s  _ we? _ There’s more people who...who are like this?”

“A couple. We come across another every once in a while. We dream of them and have to find them...did you dream of us?” Billy tilted his head, curious. 

“I dreamt about...two girls, one had red hair, a big guy, another guy with curly hair and someone bald...and you,” Steve told him. “Why?”

Billy shrugged. “There’s a lot of stuff we don’t know. Why we come back, for one. Why we have dreams of newbies. No use trying to find the answers, we’ve tried, there aren’t any.” They’ve all wasted years looking only to find dead ends.

“So what, you go around finding people...like us?” Steve ventured. 

“Sometimes, there’s not as many of us as you think. But usually we take odd jobs, suicide missions. Except they’re not for us because...well we’ve had a lot of practice and we’re good at what we do.” So Billy was a little prideful about that, he had the right to be, damn it.

Steve looked over at him sadly. “And you want me to join you? What about my friends?”

“Sorry, friends can’t come.” Billy shrugged, he’d heard this all before...except that no, he hadn’t. The rest of them were alone, no one to miss them. “So, you wanna pack a few things-”

“No.” Steve said sternly. “I’ll go with you, but we have to make sure my friends are safe first.” 

Billy looked over at him, they were planning on killing whatever it was anyway. “Alright...you need to meet the group though. You won’t need that.” He nodded to the fire poker still in his hand.

“I’ll follow you in my car,” Steve told them as they walked down the stairs. 

“Don’t trust me?” Billy glanced back over his shoulder at him. “I get it.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs to look at him. “It’s kinda a weird situation.”

“You have no idea,” Steve muttered and started over to the front door. Billy smiled and followed him. 

They were all waiting in the boys room when he and Steve walked in. Hopper immediately got up from where he was nursing a glass of whiskey. “We had a  _ plan _ .”

Billy tossed the keys to the car on the table. “Yeah well, your plan was  _ shit _ .”

“What did he start with?” Murray asked Steve, scribbling in a worn notebook. 

“What?” Steve was overwhelmed and not taking questions at this time. 

“What did he lead with?” Murray asked again. “You know before he told you.”

“Uh, have I died recently?” 

“Have you...that’s what you started with?” Murray asked, writing it down, more amused than anything.

Billy shrugged. “Well...”

The two girls were sitting on Hop’s bed while Hop and Murray took the table, Alexei leaning on the wall near the bathroom. 

Max stood up. “Fine, I’ll introduce everyone.” She walked over to Steve. “You know Billy, then the big one is Hopper, Murray, Alexei, and El. And I’m Max.” She smiled up at him. 

“You’re...young.” Steve noticed. 

“Older than you.” Max rolled her eyes but smiled, going back to sit on the bed, bouncing a bit as she did. 

“We don’t choose what age we are when it happens, obviously,” Murray said, sitting back in his seat, his notebook closed beside him. Murray was the oldest looking of the group, but that was only because of his...hair issue.

Steve looked at all of them, they were all so different. “So what now?”

“Now we sleep,” Hop said, draining his glass. 

“Tomorrow we can recon on the creature,” Billy nodded. “I haven’t slept in a few days, looks like you haven’t either.” He told Steve. Steve nodded and looked over at the two beds. “You can sleep in the girl’s room, they can share a bed.”

“And you….you’re saying in here?” Steve asked quietly, looking shiftily between Murray, Alexei, and Hop.

“Yeah, even though Hop is a little too big to fit two on a twin.” Billy shrugged, they’d done it before and they’d probably do it again. “I can deal.”

“Or you could just share a bed with Steven,” Murray suggested. 

“Steve, not Steven,” Steve corrected. 

Murray looked amused, “Fine, you can share a bed with  _ Steve-not-Steven. _ ” 

They would definitely fit better than Billy and Hopper in a bed together. Billy looked over at Steve. “That work for you?”

Steve nodded, at least he wasn’t going to be alone with strange people, even if they were girls. Not that Billy wasn’t at all strange himself. 

“Good, I might get a good night’s sleep for once, if Murray doesn’t snore,” Hop said with a huff. 

“I don’t  _ snore _ .” Murray scoffed. 

“You snore little.” Alexei shrugged. “Hop snore more.” 

“Okay!” Max stood up, “We’re going now.” El got up after her and followed her to the door. Billy motioned Steve to follow as they left the other three to argue. Of course they could still sorta hear them through the wall when they entered the adjacent room. 

El stepped up to Steve. “Don’t worry, they’re usually not that bad.” She looked up at him. “We’re happy to have you here,” She gave him a small smile before going over to the bed farthest from the door, where Max was already climbing in. 

Steve let out a slow breath and looked around the shoddy motel room. Was this his future now? 

Billy was on the other bed, pulling off his boots. “It’s a lot to take in at first,” he told Steve, standing and stretching. “You’ll get used to it. We all did.” The girls slipped under the covers of the other bed. Billy pulled back the covers. “I’ll sleep on the outside...” He pulled a gun from the back of his pants and put it under the pillow. 

Steve’s eyes widened at that. “What do you need  _ that _ for?” 

“Precautions.” Billy shrugged. “Never know what’ll happen, it’s better to be prepared.” Steve swallowed hard and toed off his adidas sneakers. “I don’t...suspect we’ll need it, if that means anything to you.” Steve gave Billy a look and climbed into the bed.

They slept back to back in the small bed, Steve was surprised he actually got to sleep without a fight, usually he laid awake for hours before finally drifting off. Maybe there was something to bed said about having a warm body next to him. Or maybe it was the gun under the pillow that made him feel safe.


	2. Chapter 2

When Steve woke up, sun was streaming in through the dirty window. He was alone in the bed but there was sound from across the room. Steve sat up quickly and looked over. Billy was sitting at the table, Max sitting on the floor in front of him, and he was...braiding her hair? That wasn’t what Steve expected to see. 

“Good morning,” El said as she walked out of the bathroom. “You slept well.” Her hair was wet, she had just gotten out of the shower. 

“Uh...yeah.” Steve ran his fingers through his bedhead. 

“Good, we’re gonna head out for breakfast soon,” Billy mentioned. “You can fill us in while we eat. Any good diners around here?” He glanced up at him while he was finishing off Max’s braids. 

“Benny’s is good...” Steve licked his lips, trying to get the stale taste of sleep out of his mouth. “It’s close too.”

Max stood up and stretched. “Good, Hop is a bitch without his coffee.” Steve blinked, not expecting that out of the kid’s mouth.

“Language.” Steve made a face and slipped out of bed. “You’re too young to...” Max gave him a look. “Never mind,” he muttered. 

“Older than you,” She said with a smile, “Let’s go.” They all grabbed their bags as Steve stopped into the bathroom. When he came out, Billy was the only one left waiting for him. 

“We’ll follow you,” he said as Steve went to slip on his shoes. “El wanted me to ask you if you’re okay.” He watched Steve as he tied his shoes. “Are you?”

Steve sighed, closing his eyes for a second before standing and looking at Billy. “Honestly? No.” He shook his head, “All of this? This is just...” Steve felt like he was going crazy. 

“Yeah,” Billy nodded. “It’s a...” He sighed. “A lot. Especially at first. Especially with you, we have...unfinished business. But after? There’ll be some downtime for you to get used to it. So just hang on until then.” He walked past him and to the door. “Come on, pretty boy.” 

  
  


Benny was surprised when so many people came in so early. His breakfast was good, but not that good. Steve Harrington was with them but it didn’t look like the usual crowd Steve came in with. In fact, Benny didn’t recognize these people at all, aside from Steve.

He went over with some menus. “What can I get you guys to start?” Benny asked, looking at them closely. 

“Coffee,” Hopper grunted, “Lots of coffee.” He opened the menu. 

“Coffee and orange juice, please.” Murray said with a smile. “And by the time you’ve gotten that to us, we’ll be ready to order.” Benny nodded, giving Steve a look before going off to get lots of coffee. 

They all studied the menu. “Waffles,” El decided and sat her menu down. “With whipped cream.”

“And I’ll have the pancakes.” Max smiled, glancing over at Billy to see if he’d object. Sometimes he did, not thinking that sugary treats were good for breakfast while they were on a job. He just sighed and sat his menu down. It wasn’t like there was that much to chose from from the breakfast menu. 

“So-” Steve started. 

“No, coffee first,” Hop interrupted, putting up his hand. They were sitting at a round table, Alexei and Murray pushed close together, as well as Max and El, in order to give the others a little more breathing room, they were still cramped. They rather sit together, however, even though they fought and argued, they were all each other had. 

Benny came back with two pots of coffee, sitting one down in front of Hopper while using the other to pour the other’s mugs full, skipping over Max and El and setting their glasses of oj down instead. “So y’all just visiting?”

Steve spoke up first. “Billy was my pen pal from...California. They got some time off school so he and his family could come down. His sisters and uncles and...dad.” He hoped that made sense as a cover story since they looked nothing alike. 

Benny seemed to buy it though, smiling and nodding at them. “Well, what can I get you started with?” He pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil. They went around the table with their orders, El starting, wanting to get to the waffles as quickly as she could. “Alright, this will take a bit, but I’ll bring it out as fast as I can.” He put the pencil behind his ear and smiled at them again before walking to the back to get it all started. 

Steve looked around the table once Benny was gone. “...So.” No objections this time. “We don’t die.” Which was as good a place to start as any. 

“You’re on the right track so far,” Murray said, sipping his own coffee. 

“And we don’t know why...or how,” Steve continued, looking around the table for any objections. “Billy said you guys do odd jobs...”

“We help people,” Alexei nodded. “Or try to.” He shrugged, pushing his glasses up. 

“It’s not just odd jobs. It’s things that no one else wants to do,” Hopper added, now a human again after finishing his first mug of coffee. 

“So you’re good guys.” Steve concluded. 

“Sometimes,” Billy looked at him. “Depends on what side you’re on. We try and pick the right one, if that means anything. Sometimes I dunno...no side feels right.”

Steve could understand that. It was a minute or so before he asked the next question. “How many of us are there? Are there more groups around the world?”

“No, just us, aren’t we enough?” Billy smiled at him. “We dream about new ones, they don’t happen very often.”

“Alexei was our last, before you. 1917.” Murray nodded and Alexei looked down, almost blushing. 

“How much do you know history, kid?” Hop asked Steve, looking over at him. 

“I’m pretty good actually...” Steve said, stopping to think that he was now sitting with people who might have experienced large events in history. 

“Russia. 1917,” Alexei said, looking at Steve. “I was lucky I not get picked for World War but I fight against-” He then said something in Russian and Murray put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. “History say it was bloodless revolution. History wrong, many of my friends die. Then they find me.” 

“Wow,” Steve looked at Alexei in awe. “I guess it makes you think how much history books got wrong...”

“A lot. Mostly.” Max nodded. “It’s not their fault sometimes, people forget things in the heat of the moment and then it’s just taken as fact. It sucks but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Then Benny came in with some of their food, sitting down at the respective places before going to grab the rest of it. “Let me know if you guys need anything else,” He said with a nod, “I’ll go get some more coffee brewing.” Hop nodded appreciatively at him.

Billy waited until Benny was back in the back before beginning again. “We gained Murray in the civil war.” Steve looked at Murray wide eyed. 

“I was for the Union of course,” Murray said before Steve could even ask, he grabbed his coffee and took a sip. The rest of them started eating, El taking big bites of her waffles with a smile. “Eat slower, you’ll make yourself sick,” he said from across the table. She made a face but did what he said. He looked back over at Steve. “Billy was a medic. The battle of Antietam.”

“I was trying to save him, he died in my arms,” Billy said, crunching on a slice of bacon. “I went away to help someone else and when I turned back he was alive again. It always takes longer to come back the first few times.”

“It was a horrible, bloody battle,” Murray said quietly. Alexei reached over and put his hand on the other’s arm to comfort him. 

“Don’t think on it. Eat your food, lyublyu,” Alexei told him softly. Steve could see that there was something there between them but he didn’t want to say anything. It was like...they were together? Like a couple? But they were...both guys…

Steve started eating his breakfast. Did the thought of two guys being together make him uncomfortable? Not...really. It was surprising, but it just made him think. Yes, they were immortal, and after being alive for so long, Steve thought, someone probably tries a lot of things…

“Met Hop down in Texas,” Billy continued. “‘Round 1760?” He took a bite of toast thoughtfully. “He was sheriff of a tiny town, hardly anyone lived there.” He gave Hop a look, knowing it was a point of contest between them.

“There was enough people to need a sheriff,” Hop gave him a dull look. “Besides, a lot of people moved away before you came.” Billy and Max just gave each other a look. 

“So did you get into a shoot out?” Steve asked, sipping on his coffee. 

“Yeah, with these two idiots.” Hop nodded at Billy and Max. 

Max shrugged with a smile. “There was a smuggling ring that we were trying to shut down, Hop thought we were bad guys. Lucky I’m a good shot.”

“Little shit shot me in the chest.” Hop shook his head. “It was a good shot though,” He muttered taking a drink of coffee. 

“Surprised the fuck out of us when he got back up again.” Billy nodded, smiling at the memory. “But everything turned out okay, we got the supplies, killed some bad guys.” He shrugged. All in a days work. 

“El came later,” Max started. “Hop was the one who actually found her.”

“We had been having dreams about her for...a while, but it was harder to find someone back then,” Billy nodded. He didn’t want to say that he’d been dreaming of her since he first died. El never did tell them how old she was, but she knew things...she seemed ageless, and yet Billy knew that she was ancient. Ancient in a way that rocks were ancient, like water was ancient. There were a lot of things that El shouldn’t know but she did. She knew how to read people like a book, yet her people skills were lacking. She couldn’t remember much about her past before they found her, but Billy knew she was  _ old _ . It wasn’t the type of thing to get into over breakfast.

“It wasn’t long after Hop joined us,” Max continued. “It was weird, suddenly there were four of us. It had just been me and Billy for so long.”

Steve looked over at them, pushing his empty breakfast plate away. “How long?”

“A while,” Billy answered. “Don’t know the exact dates, but it was before Rome had really gotten a hold of England. It was such a beautiful country, super green.” He nodded. “Max was a warrior.” He smiled over at her. 

“Italy was trying to conquer us,  _ dominate _ us. We couldn’t just let that happen. We were free people.” Steve noticed that Max held her head a little higher when talking about it. 

Steve looked over at Billy, studying him, he didn’t look that old and if Max and he met before England was taken over by Rome, then he was  _ old _ . “You were the first,” He said softly. Billy just shrugged. “What’s your story then?”

“I was a viking...” Billy answered. 

Steve mouthed a ‘wow’. “I can totally see that though.” Billy looked the type, wild, untamed. “That’s so cool… all of this  _ history _ is so cool.”

Murray smiled at his enthusiasm. “And you’ll live through some too, just wait. It’s not that fun when you’re in the middle of it.”

“But we get by.” Hop added. “We may not be in the history books but we were there where it counted.”

“You really do help people,” Steve said in a small, amazed voice. They were all amazing in their own way and Steve honestly couldn’t wait to hear all of their tales. 

“We try. Sometimes we fail, we’re only human.” Billy nodded, a little smile curling at the corners of his mouth at Steve’s awe. 

“Speaking of only human,” Hop stood up with a grunt and walked into the bathroom. El and Max giggled. 

“Well, now that we’ve delved into our histories,” Murray started, dabbing at his mouth with a napkin. “Shall we get the check?” Billy nodded at him. “Who’s turn is it?” He looked around the table expectantly before Max sighed and pulled out some cash from her jean pocket. Murray gave her a smiled and took the cash offered, going over to pay the bill. 

“Doing okay, Steve?” El asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked at him with her large eyes. 

Steve nodded. They seemed more like a family...he liked that. Not that he didn’t have his own little family with the dweebs he babysat but it was nice to know that the group he was going into cared about each other too, in their own way. “We should go to my house and talk about...stuff.” 

“Yeah,” Billy nodded standing. “Stuff.” He looked at all of them. “Lets head out then.” 

And just like that Benny was alone again. At least they gave a good tip. 

They played follow the leader again to Steve’s house, Billy parking beside Steve on the driveway while Murray parked the van on the street. Of course they had all seen the house before in their dreams. 

Billy nodded at Murray and Hop when he got out of the car. They would bring in the bag, just in case. It would better to be safe than unarmed, not that Billy didn’t have his gun under his denim jacket, tucked into the back of his waistband. 

Steve opened the door and they all shuffled into the big house. “What’s in the bag?” He asked, yet no one seemed to answer. 

They all sat down in the living room, the bag off to the side. Alexei and Murray took the love seat, while Max, El, and Steve took the sofa. Hopper stood by the window, looking out, and Billy stood nearby. “So what do we need to know?” Billy looked at Steve, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“We should really have the others here, they know more about it then I do,” Steve told him, standing up and going over to the fireplace, where a walkie talkie was laying on the mantle. 

“Whoa, wait, no.” Billy was over in a flash, his hand on Steve’s arm. “No one else. We can’t just let everyone know our business.”

Steve just looked at him. “It’s their business too, they’re a part of it.” He looked back at the others. “And they have more information than I do.” He looked back at Billy. “Besides, they’re gonna wanna know where I’m going when I leave with you.” Billy just looked at him intensely. “They’re not gonna take no for an answer, I  _ know _ them.”

Billy looked at him for a moment more before nodding. “Alright, but don’t say a word about what we are, not yet.” He moved away, taking his hand off of Steve’s arm. 

Steve nodded at him and picked up the walkie. “Dustin, anyone, over.” Billy walked the few steps back to the others. Maybe it was a bad choice, letting more people in, but if they had better information than what Steve could give them, they might prevent unneeded deaths. Sure they could come back to life, but they didn’t have to be happy about dying in the first place.

“Mike here, copy. What do you want?....Over.” A kid’s voice came through the walkie. 

“Well first, rude. Second, are you with the others? Over.” Steve spoke into the walkie, his back facing the others. Max made a gesture to Billy, who shook his head. 

“Yeah, we’re in the middle of a campaign,” Mike replied. “I think Nancy and Jonathan are upstairs doing gross things. Over.”

Steve made a face at that. “Well you all need to come over to my house….Stat. Over.”

A new voice was on the walkie, “Steve is everything okay? Over.”

“Yeah, Dustin, I just need you all to come over,” Steve replied. “Over.”

“Alright, we’ll be there in a jiffy, over and out.” Dustin ended the conversation. Steve put the walkie back on the mantle and turned around to see everyone watching him.

“Do you not have a phone?” Murray asked as the other’s snickered to themselves. 

“It wasn’t my idea, it was the kids I babysit.” Steve gave him a look. 

“So we’re going to be fighting this creature with kids you babysit.” Hopper said dully from his place at the window. “Great.”

Steve frowned. “They’re actually really smart. They can help us.” He glanced around at all of them. “Maybe not fighting but...we don’t stand a chance without what they know and I rather not _ die _ again.”

“And who are we supposed to be?” Billy asked him, looking over at him lazily. “You penpal’s from California? They’re gonna want to know, if they’re as smart as you say they are. They won’t just take no for an answer.” He echoed Steve’s previous statement.

Steve just looked at Billy for a second. “We’ll figure something out.” Murray and Alexei leaned close to one another to speak some rapid fire Russian in hushed tones. BIlly looked over at the two and let out a huff before turning away. 

He walked over to look at Steve’s mom’s knick knack shelf, things from all over the world, carefully placed behind glass doors where no one could touch them. “There’s no pictures of you,” Billy started, “Or your parents.” 

Steve looked over at Billy, “No they...they want their house pristine.” There was a touch of sadness in his voice. “They don’t come home often enough to take family pictures.” Billy turned around to look at him and Steve looked away with a sad grimace. 

“Well,” Hop spoke up, “I’m pretty sure I tracked mud on their carpets.” He smiled at Steve, hoping that would cheer him up a little. 

“At least I won’t be here to hear them yell about it.” Steve shrugged and sat down beside Max again. 

Hop looked back out the window. “Your friends are here.” He nodded as two cars pulled up. Four kids, two teens, and a concerned mom jumped out of each car respectively. “Starting to look like a real party.” 

They let themselves into the house, Dustin leading the way. “Steve are you-” They stopped short of the living room as they saw everyone there. “-okay.”

The mom pushed her way to the front. “Who are you? Are you from the lab?” She looked over at the girls, how could  _ they _ be from the lab? She didn’t know but at this point nothing would really surprise her. 

Billy walked over but kept a few feet from them. “No, but we really need to discuss this  _ lab _ .” He glanced over at Steve then back at the woman. “We heard you have a monster problem and we’re here to help. The name’s Billy.”

“Joyce...Byers.” Joyce looked him over with narrow eyes. “How did you hear about our...problem?”

Billy glanced over at his team for any help with this question. There was a moment of silence before El spoke up, “I dreamt it.”

That was as good an answer as any. Billy looked back over at Joyce with one of his charming smiles. “And here we are to help.”

“Is she like...psychic or something?” Mike asked, wide eyed as he started at El. 

“Or something,” Hop said in a dull voice, he didn’t like the way Mike was looking at her.

Billy glanced over at Hopper then back to Joyce. “Come in, we should all introduce ourselves and then we can work on a plan.” He stepped back to let the others into the living room. 

The girls made room on the sofa for another boy and the kid with the bowl cut took the spot. Mike went to lean on the arm rest beside El. 

Murray was the first to speak up. “Well, let’s go around in a circle and everyone can tell their names. I’ll start. I’m Murray. Hi.” Billy rolled his eyes but smiled.

“Alexei.” Alexei nodded and gave a little wave. The two looked over at Joyce, who was standing next in the ‘circle’.

Joyce startled a little, “Oh, I’m Joyce, Jonathan and Will’s mom.” She smiled at all of them, she seemed closer to Hopper and Murray’s age. 

“I’m Nancy and this is Jonathan.” The teen girl pointed to herself and then lanky teen boy beside her. 

“Lucas.” The single black kid in all of this gave a little wave. He was sitting on the sofa arm next to the kid with a bowl cut. 

“I’m Will,” the bowl cut kid said softly. He seemed the shyest of the group.

“Max.” Max smiled, she always enjoyed meeting new people, especially people who were around her age...kinda.

El looked around at all of them, it was like she could see right through them, all of their secrets. “I’m El.” 

Mike was too interested in watching El, Hop cleared his throat and Mike jerked to alertness. “Mike, I’m Mike.” He looked over at the next person, Billy.

“I’ll introduce myself again, sure. I’m Billy.” Billy nodded at the newcomers. He was interested in Nancy, who seemed to be watching Steve closely.

“Hi, I’m Dustin.” The kid in the hat next to Steve gave a goofy smile. 

“Everyone knows me.” Steve shrugged. 

“My name is Hopper,” Hop said, still by the window. 

“Hopper? That’s a weird name,” Mike said, making a face.

“It happens to be my last name,” Hopper said, matter of factly. He didn’t like that kid, Mike. 

“Then what’s your first name?” Joyce asked softly. 

He looked over at her, his eyes softening a little. “Jim….It’s Jim.”

Billy cleared his throat. “Let’s start with the creature. What do we know about it?” He crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Well what do you guys know about it and we can fill in the details,” Lucas suggested. 

“Next to nothing,” Billy replied quickly. “Just tell us everything you know.” This way they could get the full story without leaving anything out.

They started telling the story, each one of them taking a different part, adding pieces as they went around the room, Billy’s team listening. Will stumbled across the creature in the woods by the power plant, where the lab was, they later found out. It was tall, with long arms and legs, and a flower face that opened up to rows and rows of teeth. It’s claws were sharp and it was fast. Fire hurt it, guns not so much, but a bear trap slowed it down. 

“So you think this lab created it?” Murray asked, listening intently and taking notes in his notebook.

Nancy’s voice was a little shaky at the memories, “I don’t think you can  _ create _ something like that. It...it killed Barb. My best friend...I shouldn’t have left her alone.”

“Nance-” Steve started, taking a step towards her but she turned to Jonathan for comfort. Billy glanced between the three of them. Interesting. There was something that Billy could poke at later if he was bored. 

“Okay so we burn it,” Hop said, “Trap and burn.” He was leaning up against the wall by the window, arms over his chest. 

“If it was that easy, we could have done it,” Dustin rolled his eyes. “We need someone to act as bait, I keep saying.”

Billy’s team exchanged looks with one another. “Draw straws?” Max suggested. 

“Wait no,  _ no one _ is acting as  _ bait, _ ” Joyce said, holding her hands up.

They would have to discuss that later, draw straws, so to speak. “So what do we know about this lab?” Murray changed the subject. “You think they might have more of...whatever this thing is in there?”

“We don’t know,” Jonathan said quietly. “But they were snooping around here after Barb...died.” He glanced at Steve. 

Billy asked, raising his eyebrows. “Here? As in here  _ here _ ?” He looked over at Steve. 

Steve looked over at Billy with sad eyes. “We found Barb’s body in the pool...she was ripped to shreds.” Across the room, Nancy hid her face in Jonathan’s shoulder. “Some people from the water and power company came by later to look at the scene. They said it was to check and make sure the water wasn’t contaminated but they had these...weird instruments and were asking weird questions. And then...” He looked over at Nancy who had a ‘don’t continue that’ look on her face. Steve looked at Billy. “Then later Jonathan, Nancy and me went out looking for it. We set a trap for it, that’s how we know about the fire, and the bear trap.” 

Billy nodded at him. That was also how Steve died, Billy was certain.

“What? When was this?” Joyce looked from Steve to Nancy and Jonathan.

“A few days ago,” Jonathan said quietly. He knew his mom would get upset, which was why they didn’t tell her.

“And what, you just weren’t going to tell me?” Joyce said with a huff. 

“We knew you’d get like this if we did. We needed to do  _ something _ .” Jonathan said in almost a stage whisper. 

Alexei spoke up with a plan, or a tentative idea for one. “So, we think lab have creature. Maybe they want to capture too. Maybe we get help from lab?”

“Well, you see, if the lab  _ created  _ the monster, they might not want it back. Maybe they set it loose on purpose,” Murray argued. “Since the lab created the creature, we have to consider that they may not be good people to work with, especially if they want the creature recaptured and not killed.”

“Ah.” Alexei nodded, there was some logic behind those assumptions. “But what if lab have more?”

“Good point,” Murray looked over at the rest of the now rather large group. “Maybe we split up into two teams. One goes to check the lab out, the other goes to find the creature and kill it.”

“It’s not like we can  _ waltz  _ in there and they just  _ show _ us their super top secret stuff,” Dustin said. “We have to sneak in there or something.” Billy thought it all would be a lot easier if it was just his group. He could have an infiltration team and a kill team but now he had to account for all these extra and pretty much useless bodies. He had a feeling that the others wouldn’t want to be left out, considering they had found the creature. Billy tilted his head up to look up at the ceiling and let out a breath, thinking.

“What are you thinking?” Max asked, looking over at Billy. She knew he knew how to break everyone into the best groups, he knew the other’s strengths and weaknesses, at least for his own team, he was flying blind with the others. 

“Well we definitely need a group to go into the lab to make sure there aren’t any more.” Billy dropped his head to look at them all again. “And we need another team to fight the monster.”

“I’ll keep the kids safe back at my house,” Joyce suggested. Some of the kids from the group protested but Max and El just looked over at Billy. They were part of the infiltration team, after all. 

“Alright, you take the kids and we’ll let you know when this all blows over.” Billy nodded, he liked that idea. 

“What? No, this isn’t fair!” Mike whined. 

“Life’s not fair, kid, you wanna  _ die _ ?” Hopper looked at Mike intensely, causing the kid to shut up.

“But we can help!” Lucas chimed in. “We can create a distraction!”

“Until you get caught and we have to risk our asses even more to rescue you,” Billy countered. “No, you stay inside until it’s safe.”

“Yeah sitting on our asses doing nothing.” Dustin huffed, crossing his arms angrily.

Steve looked over at him. “Language.” Dustin just gave him a look.

“So why don’t you take the kids now so we can start planning.” Billy suggested to Joyce, who nodded in agreement. At least they were on the same page, if not for different reasons. 

Dustin, Will, Lucas, and Mike all trudged over to where Joyce was. “Max, El, you too.” Max looked over at Billy, alarmed. 

“No, they can stay,” Billy took a step towards her. “They’ll be okay, trust me.”

“But they’re just children.” Joyce gave him a weird look. 

“I know but...they’ll be alright,” Billy said slowly. “You need to trust me, I wouldn’t put them in any intentional harm.”

Joyce let out a hard breath, watching him closely. “Alright...you better not be lying.” She started to corral the kids, who were now protesting again because why did the  _ girls _ get to stay!?

Once they were outside, Hopper checked out the window to watch Joyce’s car putter away. He looked over at Billy, “So I assume you already have a plan.”

Billy just shrugged. “Yes and no. I have an  _ idea _ but I think plans are better when  _ everyone _ has input, don’t you agree?” Hopper gave him a look. 

“So what’s your idea?” Nancy stepped forward, now in the circle, Jonathan only a step behind, lingering at her back.

“Hop, Max, and El infiltrate the lab.” Billy nodded, the three figured as much. “Steve, Alexei, and Murray stay in the van to monitor. The rest three of us go and set up a trap, I’ll be the bait.”

Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan all started talking at once.

“Children!” Murray said in a loud voice, making them stop talking. “One at a time. Ladies first.” He pointed to Nancy.

“Where are we gonna set up the trap? How can we make sure it comes nearby? There’s a lot of unknowns here,” Nancy argued. “A trap is no good if the thing we’re trapping isn’t there.”

Billy looked at her, she had a point. “Well, how did you track it down the first time?”

“We got lucky,” Steve said quietly. 

“We think it caught the scent of blood. I fell and scraped my hand,” Nancy told him. 

“So then we give it blood,” Billy shrugged. “Hopefully it’s as easy as that.” Murray pointed to Steve, as it was his turn. 

“I wanna help, not just stay in the van,” Steve began.

“Staying in the van  _ is _ helping,” Billy told him. “You’re back up if we need it.” Steve gave Billy a little scowl at that. “Trust me,” he told Steve sincerely. 

“Last but not least.” Murray pointed to Jonathan. 

“I’m just not happy about Max and El going into the lab,” Jonathan said calmly. “They should be with the others-”

“We’re older than we look,” Max told him. “And we aren’t going in unarmed. We’ve done this before.”

Nancy balked. “You’re going to have guns?” Max rolled her eyes. 

“They can handle themselves,” Billy told the two teens. “I wouldn’t put them in danger.”

Jonathan shook his head. “But they  _ are _ in danger, the lab is dangerous.”

“I wouldn’t put them in danger they couldn’t handle. And no one expects a kid with a gun.” Or a sword, in Max’s case. “I know them better than you.” Billy gave Nancy and Jonathan a look. “I know what they can deal with. Besides, Hop’ll be there.” Hop nodded at the two but Billy could tell they still weren’t keen on the idea. 

“So do we have any idea what we’re up against in the lab?” Hopper asked. “Steve, you said there was weird instruments.”

Steve shrugged. “I mean I guess, I never saw them before but they might have been normal…” How was he supposed to know what that stuff looked like?

“Helpful,” Hopper huffed. 

“Give him a break,” Billy looked over at Hop. “We’ve been in worse situations before.” They’d been in unwinnable situations and came out on top, they could do this too. 

Murray checked his watch. “Why don’t we head to the lab today, then tonight we trap it. If the lab knows more than we do, we can use that information.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” El nodded, looking over at Billy. “And we can all have more back up than doing it at the same time.” 

Billy nodded as well. “After lunch, hopefully it won’t take that long and we can work on a trap in the mean time.”

Steve was amazed that all this meeting and greeting and shit took that long, but they did have breakfast a little later in the morning. It was already early in the afternoon. “I might have some stuff in the kitchen,” Steve said starting to walk through the living room to the kitchen. “Otherwise we can order pizza.”

“Pizza is easier,” Billy nodded. “Faster too. Any good places around here?”

“There’s a place, not really  _ good _ but it’s passible,” Steve turned and shrugged at him. “What do we want?” He glanced around the room. 

“Two supremes, one pepperoni and sausage with extra cheese,” Billy rattled off, knowing their usual order.

Steve blinked, “Alright...I’m guessing that’s not gonna be enough for everyone.” He looked over at Nancy and Jonathan. 

“Pepperoni,” Nancy told him. Adding on a “please,” at the end, feeling awkward with all the new people. Steve nodded and went to the phone in the kitchen to order. Once he was done he turned back around and almost bumped into Nancy. “Steve,” she said in a hushed tone. “Who are these people?”

Steve looked at her for a second. “They’re here to help.”

“I know, but  _ who are they _ ?” Nancy searched his face for an answer. “Are you in trouble?”

“Nance...” Steve sighed, his shoulders slumping. “No, they’re friends. They’re just...hard to explain okay? Just...trust me?” Nancy let out a huff but eventually nodded. She didn’t like it, she found them suspicious but she would go along for now. 

They both went back into the living room where the group was discussing their plan of infiltration. Jonathan was stood to the side quietly. 

“Considering I don’t think they allow  _ tours _ , and they’re not going to be very welcoming to people just sauntering up and  _ asking _ about the skeletons in their closest,” Hopper said, “I think we need to head down to the basement, all the weird shit is kept in basements.”

Murray nodded, “He’s not wrong. You can probably gauge their level of involvement by how many guards they have on duty and how big their guns are.” 

“Which is why we don’t want Max or El going in there,” Jonathan reasoned. 

Max looked over at Billy. “We should tell...” Billy looked over at her, it would be easier, especially if they were going to be working together on this. 

“Alright.” Billy stepped in the middle of the room, facing Nancy and Jonathan. “This doesn’t leave this room. Understand?” The two nodded slowly. “We don’t tell people this for a reason but since you’re working with us and keep worrying about the girls…” He paused. “We can’t die. The girls are older than they look, they can handle themselves.” 

Nancy and Jonathan looked at each other, obvious not believing it. Billy sighed and pulled out a switchblade from his pocket. “Watch.” He told them as he dragged a large slice across his forearm. The blood welled up but...it healed. “See?”

“That’s...” Nancy said breathlessly. “Impossible.”

“So you believe in a flower headed monster but not that?” Murray asked, his eyebrow raised. 

“I think it’s more of...there’s a lot more strange things out there then they realized,” Billy told him, putting his switchblade away. “So. You don’t have to worry,  _ you _ two are the ones that we need to worry about getting hurt.”

“Two? But what about...” Nancy looked over at Steve, her eyes widened. “When? When did you-”

“When we were fighting the monster,” Steve said softly. “I told you two to run...I...didn’t make it.” Nancy gasped, putting her hand over her mouth. 

“Steve….” Jonathan looked at him sadly, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I should have stayed and helped-”

“No, I told you to go. It’s not your fault, neither of you.” Steve told them, Billy watching him closely. “I knew what could happen...it just happened that I came back.” He looked over a Billy, nodding over to him. “They found me, told me what I was and that I wasn’t alone.” He looked back at Nancy. “I have to go with them after all this is over,” he said quietly. 

“What? No, why?” Nancy frowned. 

“Because he won’t age. And when you all start getting older around him and he stays the same, he’ll have to explain,” Billy told them. “We can’t let people know what we are. That’s what’s dangerous for us.”

“Why?-”

“Because we’ll get captured,” Murray answered, looking over at her lazily. “And kept, and tested on, over and over and over again. Human lab rats that don’t die.”

Nancy looked back over at Steve and hugged him tight. 

Billy watched them for a silent second. “So Max, El, and Hop are gonna go in, Alexei, Murray and I’ll be back up, in the van, in case something happens. And you three can stay here and work on a trap. And you guys can talk, or whatever.”

The doorbell rang for the pizza. Both Billy and Steve walked to the front door to get it. “I got it, pretty boy.”

“No, my  _ parents _ got it,” Steve said, pulling out a wad of cash from the drawer just inside the door. Not the safest place to put it but...Billy stepped back, letting him answer the door. Billy grabbed the boxes of pizza while Steve paid, bringing them to the waiting piranhas. They pounced, each taking their box (Max and El sharing the pepperoni and sausage, Alexei and Murray sharing a supreme, and Hopper grabbing the other). Nancy and Jonathan held back, a little surprised at their ravenous appetite. 

Billy glanced over at Nancy and Jonathan. “You want plates?” He asked with a smirk. They both nodded slowly, looking over at the feeding frenzy, alarmed. Billy walked back out just as Steve was coming back. “You got drinks?” Steve nodded and led Billy to the kitchen. 

Billy watched Steve as he opened the fridge to get out some sodas. “I think El would want me to ask you if you’re okay?”

Steve looked up, handing two cans of soda to Billy. “Are you sure you didn’t want to ask me?”

Billy took the sodas and looked back up at him. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know at this point...ask me in a couple of years,” Steve said, turning back to the fridge and grabbing more soda, setting it on the counter. Billy nodded, that was fair, and grabbed as many sodas as he could carry. 

“Oh, Nancy and whatever his name is wants plates,” he said as he walked out with the sodas. He passed around the sodas, six for his team and two for Nancy and Jonathan. Steve came in with three plates and another coke for himself. 

“Alright,” Hopper said, already three slices in. “What’s the idea for the trap?” 

“Ideally, we find an abandoned shack or something and lure it in,” Billy said, taking a bite of his pizza. “Then we torch it.”

“Maybe a big hole...” Max suggested. 

“You wanna dig it?” Billy glanced over at her and she made a face. “Thought so.”

“And what if we can’t find a shack?” Nancy asked. 

“We find a clearing and do the same thing. I’ll have to keep it occupied but...” Billy shrugged. He’s burned before, it hurt like hell but if that was what it took.

Steve shook his head, he didn’t like the idea of Billy getting hurt. “There has to be a better way.”

“We’re open to suggestions,” Billy said with a shrug. “If we had more time, digging a hole might be a good way to go, but we don’t have that sort of time. We have to work with what we have.”

“And what do we have?” Jonathan asked the obvious question.

“Me.” Billy grinned. “Not to be an asshole about it of course, but I think I can keep the thing distracted while it burns.”

“You’re underestimating it,” Steve started at Billy. “It’s...strong and fast and-”

“You haven’t seen what Billy can do,” El told him. “We will be back up.”

“Another perk for doing the lab first,” Hopper nodded. “The more up against the monster the better we can make sure it doesn’t escape.”

“I wanna see if we can catch it with a bear trap first,” Billy said. “If I need help then you come help.”

“I think you just want to do it by yourself,” Nancy said, crossing her arms and looking at him defiantly. “Be the big bad hero.”

“No, I want to do it by myself because it’s dangerous and I know I can fight it,” Billy told her. “I’m doing it by myself because the other’s can study it’s attacks and hop in if they need to. I can buy us time, I’m the distraction. So don’t pretend to know what you’re talking about.”

Nancy’s eyes widened then she glared at him. Obviously they weren’t going to get along. 

Jonathan chimed in, “How many bear traps do you think we’ll need? We need to be sure it’s going to step in one...”

“We should hit up the local hardware store and get a few,” Murray nodded, pointing at Jonathan. “And some gasoline.”

“And fire extinguishers,” Hopper mentioned slyly. 

“Safety first.” Alexei nodded, not noticing that it was a jab at the groups ability to not fuck up a situation. 

“So Nancy and...” Billy pointed at Jonathan.

“Jonathan,” Jonathan said quietly. 

“Yeah, you two can go pick up the stuff we need while the others are at the lab.” Billy nodded. They would just slow them down at the lab, and Billy doubted they could fight. He turned to Hopper. “As for the lab, try not to kill anyone until we know for sure they’re the bad guys, okay?” Hop sighed but nodded. “Steve, you’re coming with me to find a good spot for the trap, Alexei and Murray will monitor the lab until we get there.”

“Sounds like you have a plan for everyone,” Nancy said, crossing her arms. 

Billy just looked at her for a second and then smiled slowly. “Do you have a better idea?” Nancy pursed her lips and looked away. She obviously didn’t like that Billy was in charge, for some reason, but she couldn’t do anything about it. “Right, if we’re all ready, let’s head out.” 

Nancy and Jonathan took their car while the rest piled in the van. Billy gave them a little nod before turning to Steve. “Ready?” He asked the other. 

Steve let out a sigh. “Yeah, it’s just...starting to feel real.” He looked over at Billy, who laid a hand on Steve’s shoulder and nodded. Steve looked at him for a second. “How was it with you? When you first found out?”

A crack of thunder echoed in Billy’s mind as he looked away. Stormy seas, rough waters splashing against the deck, a mutiny. “I’ll tell you later,” Billy said quietly and started to walk to the car.

Steve followed him and got in the passenger’s seat. “How are the others going to find where the lab is?”

“...Map.” Billy looked over at him and turned on the car. “Know of any places we can use to set up?” He asked as they backed out of the driveway. 

“There’s a few clearings nearby. How do we know we can lure it in?” Steve asked, pulling on his seatbelt and buckling himself in. 

“We don’t.” Billy shrugged. “We just hope and wait. Eventually it’ll pick up the trail and we can capture it. It would be nice if it happened tonight but-”

“What if we have teams go out and try and lure it to the spot? So we have more range...” Steve suggested. 

“That…” Billy thought about it, that actually sounded like something that would help. “That sounds like it could work. Good thinking.” Steve smiled at him and looked away. He could help, he was helpful to the group, not a liability like he felt like he had been all his life.

“How do you think it’s gonna go at the lab?” Steve then asked. 

“Well, I hope...” It could go one of two ways, either in their favor, but one with less bloodshed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lyublyu - love, in Russian of course. If it's wrong, let me know in the comments, Google translate is hardly reliable.


	3. Chapter 3

“So what do you guys think of  _ Steve _ ?” Hopper asked as soon as they were on the road, all piled into the back of the van. 

“I think okay.” Alexei shrugged from the passenger’s seat. Murray was driving. 

“I like him,” El told him softly. “He’s brave.”

“Well, Billy seems to like him, otherwise he wouldn’t have gone off alone with him,” Max shrugged. 

“Well we all saw how he was watching him,” Murray commented. “Paying very close attention to Steve, indeed.” He exchanged a knowing look with Alexei. 

“Maybe is good for him.” Alexei shrugged. “Maybe make him stay longer this time.”

“That would be nice...” Max agreed quietly. They were all silent for a few minutes, the calm before the storm. “I think we all know that we’re not gonna be able to just  _ walk _ into this lab.” She looked at Hopper and El. “Subdue not kill, understood?”

El gave a nod.

“Only if necessary, I’ll go with that,” Hopper said, checking his guns. “I’m not here to play nice. If they let this thing out and if they’re hostile towards us I’m going to do what’s necessary.”

“Try,” Max gave him a look. “Only if necessary. If we get into trouble, we have backup, remember?”

Hop didn’t want to say what he thought of their  _ backup _ . Murray and Alexei were hardly fighters and definitely the weakest of the bunch. They could fight, yes, but they usually were in the background using their fancy equipment to get the rest of the team through the danger. They were the ones that found the safehouses, the cars, the equipment to get the job done. They all had their roles. 

“So how we gonna do this? Oslo ‘58?” Hopper asked, eyebrow raised at Max. 

She smiled. “I was thinking Morocco ‘29.” Hop nodded, that was a good one, they hadn’t done that in a while.

“Morocco ‘29 it is.” Hopper grinned and grabbed his shotgun. 

They parked the van a little ways away and waited for Alexei and Murray to get a signal on their radios. “Sounds good, there’s a little interference but...that might be the lab.” Murray nodded, looking at his screen. “You’re ready to go. Give the signal if you need assistance.” Max gave them a lazy salute and they headed out. 

There was a gate guard, but they all didn’t know much about power companies and if this was considered strange or not. “We’re here for the tour.” Max walked up with a big smile, her big backpack on her back.

The guard looked over at her, frowning. “What tour?” Did they do tours?

Max frowned, her eyes watering a little, “Did we...did we miss the tour? Oh no!” She looked at Hopper. “Dad, did we miss the tour!?”

Hopper grunted. “No we’ll sort this out.” He stepped up to the gatehouse in an intimidating manner. “You not gonna let my little girls in for the tour?”

“Uh, sir I...” The man frantically turned back to his panel and picked up a phone. He peered at Hop from over his shoulder, “Uh yeah is there a tour today?...N-no?” Another look over his shoulder. “Are you sure? O-okay…” He turned to Hop. “There’s no tours today...”

Suddenly Hop grabbed him by the collar and pulled him half through the window. “Open the gate.” 

With a flip of a switch the gate started to slide open, Hopper banged the attendance head on the windowsill, and he collapsed inside the booth. “Might buy us some time,” he said as they all started through the gate at a hurried pace. 

It bought them enough time to cross the parking lot. There were security guards at the front doors. “This is not a public space, I need you to leave.”

“We’re just here for the tour,” Max said with a put on smile.

“There is no tour, you need to leave,” the security guard told them again. 

“Right,” Hop spoke up, “I guess I’m gonna have to speak to your boss then.”

The other security guard blinked, “I’m sorry?”

“We’ve been told there’s a tour, now you say there isn’t one, I want to speak to who’s in charge,” Hopper said again, putting his hands on his hips. Full. Mom. Mode. 

The two guards looked at each other and one of them turned away to start speaking into his radio on his shoulder. When it was starting to look more and more likely that they  _ weren’t  _ just going to waltz into the place, Max and El looked at each other, knowing what they had to do. 

They moved around Hop, one on each side and quickly brought the guards to their knees. It was silent, a moment later the guards were unconscious on the floor. They did a thorough search, kicking away the guard’s guns and taking their badges to be let into the building. This all maybe took a minute. 

“Radio too.” Hop said, grabbing up one’s radio and hooking it to his belt. “Not sure how far we’re gonna get in without having trouble, but at least we know when trouble is headed towards us.”

El slid one of the badges through the machine to unlock the doors and Max opened the door for them. Time to get to work. 

Steve and Billy scouted out a few different places, each of them defendable in their own way, none of them perfect. But they weren’t going to get perfect, they never got perfect, they probably wouldn’t know how to work with perfect if they got it. Last, Steve took Billy to where he first died. 

Billy walked around the little spot between the trees with reverence. There was a  _ lot _ of blood. Billy could see where Steve propped himself up against the tree. Billy looked back at Steve, who was hanging out by the car, he didn’t even want to look at the place. 

Billy trailed the black blood of the creature to where it disappeared into the trees. It was dark, thick blood, definitely not humans, more like...goo. Billy made a face and turned to walk back to Steve. “Let’s go and see how the others are doing at the lab, do you know where it is, amigo?” Steve nodded and grabbed at the handle for the passenger’s seat. Billy grabbed his hand first though. “Hey...look at me.” Steve’s eyes flickered up. “You good?” He licked his lips.

Steve’s eyes followed the action. “Yeah...I’m good.” Billy knew that was a lie but there wasn’t much more he could do about it now. He let Steve’s hand go and went around to get in the driver’s side. 

The lab, unsurprisingly, wasn’t that far away from where Steve fought the monster. Billy pulled up along side the van and parked. The van was a 70’s van with a wizard riding a dragon painted on the side. It stuck out like a sore thumb most of the time but it was Murray’s…

Billy slid open the door and found Murray eating some chips while Alexei had on a large pair of headphones, listening in and checking things on some large monitors and other equipment. It wasn’t the most advanced stuff, they couldn’t afford that even if they were immortals, but it worked for them.

“They doing okay in there?” Billy asked, ducking into the van, Steve followed hesitantly. 

“They’re still going, haven’t got caught yet, there’s a bunch of radio chatter about them though,” Murray was obviously not worried in the slightest.

Steve looked over at Billy, “Should we go help?”

Billy sat on a pillow on the ground, “Nah, we can go in if they get caught but-” He shrugged. “They’re a good team, they’ve done this sorta thing tons of times. The guys in there don’t know what hit them.”

Steve sat down hesitantly, not really knowing  _ where _ to sit down, then figuring it really didn’t matter, as long as it wasn’t on the equipment. “Have you guys been doing this long?” He asked. 

“Doing what? Sneaking into secret government facilities disguised as public utility buildings?” Murray raised an eyebrow and looked at him. “Nah, first time for that.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Helping people. How long has that been going on?”

Billy looked at him and sighed. “Things have always been shit, that’s nothing new. I know a lot of people think that the world has just  _ recently _ gone to shit, but that’s not true. People have always been killing other people, starting wars, being selfish.” He shrugged. Alexei moved one of his headphones off of his ear so he could listen. “We’re not any better, but we do try and help when we can. Seems like a waste not to.” 

“Don’t let Billy tell you otherwise,” Alexei started, “He’s good guy. He helps more than he admit. He do lot of good things in history.” Billy shook his head and looked away. “He act bad but is really soft. You’ll see.” He turned back to his equipment. “Oh, they in lab!” The three looked on eagerly, waiting to see what they uncovered. 

There was obvious sounds of gunfire and shuffling through Alexei’s headphones. “I think they find something, they try and shut down...” There was a loud screeching and Alexei threw the headphones off, cursing in Russian. “I think they find thing to shut down...is machina or something...” He hesitantly reached for the headphones again…

There was a portal...or the beginnings of a portal on a wall by a...machine? Some sort of ray gun from the future it looked like to Hop. They had to shut it down for sure. Destroy it. There were two keys they had to turn, after they cleared out the control room. Hopper stood by the door to stop anyone from entering as the two girls turned the keys to shut off the machine. The portal started to slowly close as the machine started to self destruct loudly. 

Boom. Pop. Whirr. CRASH BANG--

The girls ducked as the glass window overlooking the gun shattered as the machine exploded. 

Billy leaned over to pull the curtain back from the van window, a large plump of smoke could be seen above where the lab would have been through the trees. “Well, it looks like we know the answer to if they’re involved or not.” 

Steve glanced out the window, getting behind Billy to look over his shoulder. “What if they start whatever they’re doing again when we leave?”

“Steve...we can’t stay,” Billy turned to look at him and startled at how close he was. “People notice shit. Besides...watching everyone you love grow older while you stay the same isn’t...isn’t something you want.”

Steve nodded a little and went to sit back down. “Do you think they’re okay in there?”

“Well, it wasn’t  _ that _ big of an explosion,” Murray shrugged then looked over at Alexei. “Anything?”

Alexei shook his head and took off the headphones. “I think explosion cut out feed. Which is good but also now we not know their situation.”

“We’ll wait for fifteen. If they’re not out by then, we’ll go in,” Billy nodded, settling down by the window to watch for them. 

Steve looked over at Billy, watching him. “You’re not worried?”

“Why would I be worried?” Billy asked, glancing over at Steve. “If they get captured we’ll go rescue them. It’s not like they can die.”

Murray nodded. “They can definitely handle themselves. You haven’t seen them in a fight yet. You shouldn’t be worried.” He crunched on another chip. 

Billy continued watching out the window. “I see them,” about 11 minutes had passed. They were walking confidently, a little dirty but overall they looked all in one piece. “Awesome.” Billy grinned and went out the van door to greet them. They exchanged a few words before the three ducked inside the van. 

“Billy says we’ll brief back at the house,” Hopper said, taking a seat on the floor beside the window where Billy previously was. Murray nodded and pushed himself up to go to the front to start the van. 

“Steve, you want ride with Billy?” Alexei asked him, tilting his head a little and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. 

Steve pushed himself into a crouch, “Uh yeah, I’ll go with him.” Billy was already starting the car up beside them, Steve went around and slid into the passenger’s seat. “Can I hitch a ride?” He gave a little smile. He was just relieved to see that the other’s made it out of the lab okay. He didn’t think it was the end for the lab though, people like that didn’t just quit. 

“Get in here, pretty boy.” Billy grinned at him, the tip of his tongue sticking out a little from between his teeth. Steve looked away with an easy smile.

The smile was gone when they pulled back in his driveway. Nancy and Jonathan were already back from their supply gathering. Steve just...hated the way Nancy looked at him lately. It wasn’t his fault that Barb died, just because it was in his pool. He knew that Nancy also blamed herself for leaving Barb alone but there wasn’t anything they could have done. Nancy thought otherwise, causing them to break up not so long after they got together. And the fact that she immediately got together with Jonathan didn’t help their relationship either. 

Nancy was waiting impatiently in the living room with Jonathan when they walked in. “So? What did you find in the lab?” She almost jumped on them before they could walk into the living room. 

“Jesus, let us calm down first,” Hopper grunted. “Steve, show us the bathroom so we can clean up.” Steve nodded and led the three upstairs. 

Nancy let out a hard breath and sat back down. Billy raised his eyebrows and exchanged a look with Murray. They all sat down, Murray and Alexei taking the loveseat again. Alexei grabbed a slice of cold pizza and started to eat as if he hadn’t eaten three slices a few hours earlier. Billy just sat back in the recliner and closed his eyes. A lot of things were going to happen all at once and he needed to be ready.

“Steve, we’re okay, seriously,” Max’s voice was heard as they were coming back down the stairs again and into the living room. “We don’t even have a cut on us, we’re fine.”

“I’m just...making sure,” Steve muttered and went over to lean up against the wall by the window. 

“Alright,  _ now _ what did you find?” Nancy asked impatiently, glancing at all of them. 

“Steve and I found some suitable places, but Steve also had a great idea,” Billy started, “We break up into teams and try and lure the thing to a spot. We can have more coverage and probably better success rates.”

“And they’re lured in by blood, right?” Murray asked. “That’s fun, I’m guessing that they-” he pointed to Nancy and Jonathan- “Aren’t going to contribute to that.”

“Of course not.” Billy shook his head. “They’re going to stay here, away from everything.” He looked over at them, “For safety.”

Jonathan nodded, he looked at Nancy but when she didn’t say anything he answered, “we understand.”

“So assuming we got the stuff-” Billy looked over at Nancy and Jonathan, and Jonathan nodded again. “We should be set on that front.” He looked over at Max. “So tell us about the lab.”

“Well they were definitely responsible,” Hop started. “They had this fucking...machine pointed at a wall. They were opening a portal to who the hell knows where.”

“We closed it,” El said softly. “The machine exploded, the portal closed.”

“Everyone was in a panic so we just sorta,” Max shrugged, “walked out. There wasn’t anything other than that though, nothing in cages or anything.”

Billy glanced over at Nancy. “Was that as exciting as you thought? Or did you expect something more?”

“No,” Nancy looked at him. “Whatever they were doing, you stopped it, that’s good.” She shook her head. “A portal...to where?”

“Definitely concerning, but that’s the government for you sweetie,” Murray settled back against the loveseat. 

“What time we head out again?” Alexei asked, finishing the cold slice of pizza. 

“I think we need to set up the traps just before the sun goes down,” Billy told them. “I would rather wait until it’s fully dark but then we wouldn’t be able to see what we’re doing. So dusk.”

Nancy checked her watch. “About half an hour. We should go with you to set up the traps.”

“I already said you’re staying here,” Billy said simply. “There’s too much risk involved with you two going. Would you want those kids to come too?”

“What? No-”

“That’s what you are to us.” There was a silence after Billy said it as it sunk in to not only Nancy and Jonathan but to Steve as well. 

Steve shifted. “Maybe I should stay behind too, then. I’m not much older than they are…”

Billy looked over at him. “But you can heal, it’s different.” 

“Doesn’t mean I won’t get in the way,” Steve told him. 

“I think we’ve established that you can fight against one of these things,” Hop chimed in. If anything, you can be bait, but you’ll probably be staying in the van with Murray and Alexei.”

“Yeah, stay in the van, the van is fun,” Murray nodded. Alexei moved to whisper rapid Russian in Murray’s ear. “Although… A valid point has been made and you should probably get used to combat.”

Billy shot them a look like ‘not in front of the straights’. He looked back at Steve. “I think you’d be good at it. It’s your choice.” He pushed himself up out of the chair. “Either way, we should get ready.”

Nancy pushed herself up as well. “Take the walkie. We’ll be at Jonathan’s with the kids. Keep us posted.” She walked over to Steve and hugged him tight. “Be careful.”

Steve hugged her back, “I will Nance.” Jonathan stood up and nodded at him, Steve nodded back. 

Nancy turned to Billy. “You better not get him hurt.” She didn’t give him time to response before turning and leaving with Jonathan. 

“Well she’s a spitfire isn’t she?” Billy said dully. He glanced over at Steve. “You know, I think I know what you can use as a weapon…”

They grabbed their guns and the traps and headed out towards one of the better spots that he and Steve had scouted out earlier that day. Max and Hopper rode in the car Billy brought along, Alexei and Murray took the van of course, leaving Billy, El, and Steve in Steve’s car. El decided she wanted to ride along with Billy and Steve instead of the others. Which told Billy she probably had something to say to them alone. 

It was silent as they drove, for a little while, until El spoke up. “You two work well together.” There was not much they could really say to that, Billy watching out the window and Steve keeping his eyes on the road as he drove. “It’s nice you two found each other.”

“I don’t know what would have happened if you guys didn’t find me,” Steve said quietly. “I would have been...screwed.”

“Lost, afraid, confused...alone,” Billy glanced over at him. “Bonus we get to fight a monster from a different dimension, so you’re not all bad.” He gave Steve an easy smile.

Steve gave him a quick glance and rolled his eyes. “I’m glad you guys can help, I wouldn’t want the others getting hurt.”

“You’ll fit in the team well, Steve,” El nodded from the back seat. “We need someone to bring us together again. We lost our way.” Billy looked back out the window, not going to speak on that point. It was true, they had been drifting away from a group for a while now, no one wanting to admit it. Maybe Steve  _ could _ bring them together again with his caring. It was easy as an immortal not to care, to just...forget to. After seeing so much and experiencing so much bad, it was easy to forget the good things, the good people that made everything worthwhile, everything worth fighting for.

Billy thought maybe...maybe Steve was one of those good people. He just hoped that immortality didn’t sour him like it did the rest. He would hate to see the spark in those brown eyes leave. 

The van parked behind Steve’s beamer, it was a surprise that it could even fit in the narrow path in the woods at all. It would make for good cover though. Hopper parked a little further away, just in case they had to move out quickly. They all got out and convened in the entrance to the little clearing. “We should set up the traps together so we all know where they are,” Max said as they all walked up. 

The sun was just starting to set, making the trees glow in it’s light. Murray opened the back of the van where all the gear was located. “Try not to snap off any fingers while we’re setting up the traps,” he noted while Hopper and the others were grabbing the bear traps. Max almost dropped hers, it was heavier than it looked. 

“Do we grow them back?” Steve looked at Murray concerned. 

“Yeah, slowly, but we do. Might take more than a couple of minutes for a limb,” Murray nodded. “More time for a head, depends on how bad the injury is.” Steve blinked at him, hoping of never needing to find out. 

Billy was already coming back for another bear trap, “There are a few around the perimeter but I think it’s best to keep them tight so there’s more chance of the thing running over one.”

“Where we put the lighter fluid?” Alexei asked, grabbing two bottles of it.

“Around the bear traps, fucking everywhere. We want this sucker to burn.” Billy lifted the other bear trap out of the van. Steve tried not to watch the muscles of his arms too closely as he lifted. 

“What can I do?” Steve asked, feeling awkward just standing there with Murray. 

“Get some rags, wrap them around a big, long stick at the top,” Billy said, moving out again with Alexei behind him. 

Murray looked at Billy for a second, “Oh that’s what he’s going to do. Smart.” He looked at Steve. “You heard the man, find a stick.”

Billy came back just in time to see Steve fall on his ass from a tree. He let out a laugh, far enough away that Steve couldn’t hear it. Billy smiled and shook his head, “Fuck.” That was just what he needed. A case of feelings. He turned and saw Murray looking knowingly at him. “Shut the fuck up.” 

“Words aren’t needed,” Murray said, sitting in the opening of the back of the van. 

“Yeah but you could think a little quieter,” Billy muttered, opening up their bag of weapons for the others when they came back around. He grabbed his axe from further inside and checked the blade, even though it was always sharp. 

Steve walked back to them with a relatively good sized branch. “Will this work?”

“Can you swing it?” Billy asked, not looking at him as he checked some of the ammo in the guns. 

“Yeah...” Steve frowned. “I don’t think it’s gonna be a sturdy as a bat though.”

“You’re not gonna swing it that many times,” Billy glanced back at him and then at Murray, “Help him wrap the rags around it.” He walked a little into the clearing and whistled, calling the others back. 

Murray started ripping up some rags to wrap around the tip of the branch. Billy started, “Alright, I’m gonna be bait, I don’t want you guys fighting this thing if you don’t have to. After we all get back from luring it in, I want Alexei and Murray in the van, the rest are going to spread out to cover me. We don’t wanna lose this thing. Got it?” Billy stepped away so that the others could get their weapons. 

Hopper favored guns, taking a shotgun with him and a pistol tucked in his waistband. Max had a sword, which she strapped across her back, a relic of a time long past. She and El also took a gun from the pile, checking them to make sure that they were ready. El grabbed her short swords, one in each hand. She could slice through people like butter, too fast for them to even understand what was happening. 

Alexei and Murray grabbed guns too, not expecting to see combat but ready for it all the same. Steve stood back with his tree branch, he didn’t want a gun, didn’t know how to use one, but it was interesting seeing everyone equip themselves it like was just another day for them. 

The sun was halfway set, cloaking everything in an eerie golden glow. 

“Billy, maybe you take grenade?” Alexei reasoned, holding out one to Billy. Steve’s eyes widened, he’d never seen one before. 

“Nah, might be too risky, might draw attention.” Billy shook his head. “Alright, keep on guard everyone, El and Max head west, Hopper will take the north, Murray and Alexei south by the van, and Steve’ll come with me. Just enough blood to get it’s attention if it’s nearby, don’t go too far. If you think it’s following you, head back, obviously.” With a nod they all set off, the sun completely set. 

Steve followed Billy closely, hands gripping the branch tight enough for the bark to make indents in his palm. Billy had his axe swung over his shoulder. “This should be fun, right?” Billy glanced over at Steve with an easy smile. “It’s not everyday you get to do this shit, new experiences, am I right?”

Steve let out a hard breath. He’d rather not be doing this  _ at all _ but he rather it be them then Nancy and the others. At least they could heal. 

Billy stopped when they got to their spot. “Gimme your hand.” He took the axe off his shoulder and sliced into his own palm, letting the blood pool then drop on the forest floor. 

“That doesn’t hurt you?” Steve asked, wincing. 

“Hurts like a bitch.” Billy shrugged and show him his palm, which was already almost done healing. “Would you rather me cut you somewhere else?”

“Uh, no it’s fine.” Steve wiped the little pieces of wood where the bark broke off in his hand on his jeans. He offered Billy his hand, palm up so he could slice it with his axe. Steve was surprised how gently Billy did it. He was right, it did hurt like a bitch. 

“Alright, spread out a little, we wanna lure this thing in,” Billy nodded at him. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to reopen their hands for a second time.

Back at the van, Alexei and Murray had already walked around and smeared blood on some trees and bigger rocks. They were inside the van, just waiting for something to happen, would they hear the thing before it was there or would it just drop down from the trees? Either way, they were kinda safe in the van, right?

THUNK THUNK. The sound of something hitting the roof of the van. They both looked up. “Motherfuck-” The van started to shake, lurching from side to side as the thing stood. Murray moved to the door and slid it open, letting out a shrill whistle from between his thumb and forefinger. That was a good enough signal as any, and he shut the door, hoping the fucker didn’t scratch any of the paint.

The other’s came running back as they heard the whistle, Billy running into the clearing. It was the first time he saw the thing, long and with lanky limbs, pitch black against the night, it was like if darkness rose up and this was the result. The thing let out a roar, its flower head opening to reveal rows upon rows of sharp teeth, spittle flying out of its mouth. Billy let out a breath and gripped the handle of his axe tightly. 

As soon as it spotted Billy it jumped off the van, making it shake again, and started into the clearing. Exactly what Billy wanted it to do. Billy swung at it as he dodged it’s slick body, feeling the blade of his axe at least knick it’s tough skin. It was going to take more than that to bring it down though and Billy readied himself for the next pass, trying to angle himself so the monster would run into the traps. 

It ran and jumped at Billy, learning from it’s mistake the last time and stopping short of the axe’s reach. It let out a loud roar, making Billy do the same and step forward to swing at it. He lodged the axe in the things side, making it let out a wild scream, and swipe it’s claws towards Billy. The claws caught him and flung him sideways and onto the ground. 

He slowly picked himself back up as the monster stalked over to him. The monster grabbed Billy and held him in the air like a doll before tossing him aside again, hitting a nearby tree with a sick thud and crunch. Billy crumpled to the ground. The monster was just playing with his food at this point.

While the creature was stalking towards Billy, Steve ran out from the woods, his branch on fire, leaving trails of embers in the air. He hit the things side opposite to the axe that was still stuck in it, making it stumble from the unexpected hit. Stumbling right into the ring of bear traps. Caught. 

Steve let go of the branch and let it fall to the ground, lighting the lighter fluid and sending the demon up in flames. It’s screeches and roars filled the night as it burned. As the fire started to spread, Steve ran over to where Billy was to help him up. Billy had the wind knocked out of him and a chunk taken from his side, still healing as the flames started. 

Steve pulled him up and wrapped his arms around the other to steady him as they rushed to safety. The fire was clear of the trees but there was still a large bonfire in the center of the clearing where the thing burned. They all looked back at the sight from the van. 

“Looks like I match you now...” Billy told Steve with a lazy grin and motioned to his side, where his shirt was torn, the wound already healed. Steve let out a breath of relief and gave a little nod. Steve’s wound was worse, or maybe Billy was just made sturdier than he was. 

“Yeah but did you die?” Steve asked as he helped Billy into the van. 

“I might have...for a second.” Billy shrugged, “Hard to say….good work, you did good.” Murray nodded at Steve while Alexei helped Billy into the back. All he needed was a little rest to get his air back, that thing was strong and knocked the air out of him when it hit. 

As they were all dropping off their weapons into the back of the van, Steve called Nancy on the walkie, telling her the good news. He heard the relief in her voice when she responded back.

Hop walked over, “Alright, back to your place, kid.” He looked back at the flames licking the night sky. “I think it’s toast.” Max laughed beside him as she and El walked past. 

They all stumbled into Steve’s house, tracking dirt on the carpet, and flung their bodies on various soft things to sit. A job well done. Now they could relax, get some sleep-

A loud knock on the door. They all let out various forms of audible frustration. Steve automatically lifted himself up and went to the door to answer it. It was probably Nancy and the kids-

A tall man with white hair and a suit was standing on the other side of the door when Steve opened it. There were two men with large guns beside him. Steve’s eyes widened and as the man stepped forward, Steve stepped back until they were all the way in the house. The men with the guns corralled Steve back into the living room with the rest of them. 

The man in the suit stood in the archway of the living room, looking at all of them, studying them. “My name is Dr. Brenner,” he introduced himself. “Did you think you were going to get away with destroying our machine?” 

Billy sighed and pushed himself up from where he was laying on the carpet. “What are you gonna do about it?” He was tired, he wanted a nap. 

One of the men with guns walked over and without hesitation shot Billy in the head. He fell backwards against the white carpet, his blood staining a red halo around his head. The others looked on, shocked at the nonchalant attitude of it all. 

“It was a very expensive machine that took a lot of effort and time to make,” Brenner said, as if nothing had happened. “Fortunately, we have recently discovered another venture.” Billy gasped back to life, the bullet pushing back out of his forehead. “Yes, that’s exactly what I hoped for.” He looked pleased with himself. 

“And you think two guys with guns are going to be enough to take us?” Hopper stepped forward, getting ready for a fight. Brenner gave a signal and more men walked in, guns trained on them all. 

Steve was standing to the side so he saw as the group exchanged glances. They leapt into action, bullets flying, the crashing of expensive things and fluff from the couches were in the air. 

Hop took down four of them before he collapsed on the floor. Max and El worked in tandem, taking out a few before they succumbed to the gunshots. Billy took out a few too before dying again. The gunshots stopped, the fluff settled. There were only a few men left, Brenner taking refuge in the entryway of the house until the fighting died down. 

Then they started to get up, coming back to life with gasps. The few men left with guns looked at each other, amazed. The team stood back up and lunged at them again, disarming them and fighting their way into the living room even more. 

Murray and Alexei had made their way around the room, using the furniture as a cover, heading around to where Steve was hiding behind a plant. It wasn’t like Steve could fight like the others, not yet anyway. Murray motioned for Steve to come with them as they snuck out of the living room while the others were fighting. Alexei was the first into the entryway, crouching down low, and the first to get a kick to the face by Brenner.

Alexei crumpled to the floor, nose bloodied. Murray took one look at him and then at Brenner. He stood up straight, face blank as he walked towards Brenner, getting up in his face. “You hurt Alexei...you shouldn’t have done that.” Brenner was on the floor before Steve could blink, neck broken. “Shouldn’t have done that,” Murray said again, now more feeling in his voice. He stepped over Brenner’s body and helped Alexei up. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

Alexei gave him a bloodied smile. “I’m okay.” Murray gave him a soft smile back. 

Steve noticed that it was quiet in the living room, so he glanced back. Billy and the rest were taking stock of one another, making sure each were okay before moving on to the next. Billy looked over at Steve and let out a sigh and then a smile. There were bodies and blood everywhere, everything had bullet holes in it, completely ruined. Steve gave him a smile back. They all made it out the other side, things were just things when it all came down it. Steve had no idea how they were going to clean this up but...he had felt hopeful for the first time in a long time. And that was worth something.

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't watched The Old Guard on Netflix you definitely need to.


End file.
